Missing Plane Crashes in North Pakistan

At 7:28 a.m. ET, on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, transporting 47 individuals, crashed after a domestic departure from the rocky northern town of Chitral, on the way to Islamabad.

At approximately 3:00 p.m., the plane took off from Chitral, then contact with the control tower was malfunctioning by 4:30 p.m. This occurred abruptly before the airplane was about to land at its journey’s end. The PK-661 plane, as told by Civil Aviation Authority spokespersons, disappeared from the radar, along with its 47 passengers, near the city of Havelian, in the Abbottabad region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa jurisdiction, while in route to Islamabad.

Air travel specialists verified that missing flight PK-661 has crashed. Eyewitnesses told the aviation experts that the plane smashed into the mountains and exploded upon impact. It was confirmed that police were on the way to the crash site but had not yet reached their destination.

This is not the first time a Pakistan International Airline flight has vanished from the radar. Pakistan flight 404 disappeared soon after take off, 27 years ago. The passenger plane left from Gilgit, Pakistan, on the way to the national capital of Islamabad. One of the pilots managed a scheduled radio cry at 7:40 a.m.; this was the final exchange with the airliner. The airplane is believed to have collided in the mountains of the Himalayas, although the debris has never been found.

The manifest of flight PK-661 shows that the plane was carrying 31 men, 9 women, and 2 infants. This includes songster-cum-evangelist Junaid Jamshed along with his family, in addition to three non-nationals.

Witnesses alleged the destruction on the ground is significant and it is likely there are not any survivors.

Written by Jomo Merritt
Edited by Jeanette Smith

Sources:

Reuters: Plane with some 47 people on board crashes in north PakistanInternational Business Times: Pakistan Airlines crash: Pop star Junaid Jamshed feared to be among 47 victims